


Fair & Square

by Ludi_Ling



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Treme X-Men
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Love, Love Confessions, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Sex, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:55:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25922440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ludi_Ling/pseuds/Ludi_Ling
Summary: What happened with Rogue and Gambit between their talk in the garden following the whole Vargas ordeal, and them leaving the X-Men the next morning to spend some time together?
Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Rogue
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Fair & Square

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! This story was written in response to a prompt on Tumblr: "What happened between their talk in the garden following the whole Vargas ordeal and them leaving the X-Men the next morning to spend some time together".
> 
> So here it is - based on X-Treme X-Men #19. Man, those were the days!
> 
> Enjoy! x

It’s still strange to kiss without being scared, without the crazy avalanche of memories.

Hell, it’s just strange to be kissing at all.

Especially now, here, with him.

Don’t get me wrong – it isn’t like this is the first time we’ve kissed, or even the second or third… or maybe even the tenth, if I think about it.

What’s strange is the both of us being absolutely powerless; and what’s even stranger is that only a couple of days ago I’d dragged him away from the pearly gates of heaven itself, and I could’a sworn ever since then he’s been angry with me.

Nah – angry don’t even cut it. He’s been worse than angry – distant, stand-offish.

I’d stolen his redemption from him, and now he’s powerless and vulnerable in a way he’s never been before. I know it don’t sit well with him – hell, it don’t sit well with _me_ – but I did it because I _love_ the man, and I don’t regret it for a moment.

I have no idea what he’s been through, but the hell we shared with Vargas made me sure of one thing – I ain’t done with him, and I’m gonna fight tooth and nail to keep him till my dying breath. I want more, and for once, I ain’t afraid to tell him so.

_I want a lifetime_ , I’d said to him.

I’d asked him for _everything_.

And he hadn’t said no.

He ain’t given an unequivocal ‘yes’ neither, but I’ll take what I can get from Remy LeBeau.

Our kiss is over all too soon, and I don’t dare to press for more – I feel like I may be pushing for luck. For a moment we sway together in time to the band, neither of us saying a thing. It ain’t too often we get moments, let alone kisses, like these – the best we can do is savour it.

“You wanna go back?” I finally ask him. “Join the others?”

His swaying slows slightly.

“Do you wanna?” he asks me instead. I barely need to think about my answer.

“No,” I reply simply. “Not if you don’t wanna.” I raise my head and look at him, feeling the need to finally speak the unspoken.

“Listen – sugar. I know what I took away from you, Remy. But I want ya to know I did what I did ‘cos I love ya. ‘Cos I ain’t ready to lose ya. And—”

“Shh.” He places a forefinger against my lips, silencing me – the texture of his skin on mine still so wonderfully alien. “I know why you did it, Rogue,” he says. “You don’t need t’explain.”

“Don’t I?” I say, doubtful.

“Non.” His thumb caresses my lips softly. “I ain’t angry at you, chere. I may’ve been, a li’l bit. At first. Not anymore.”

I slowly release a pent-up breath. Till this moment, it ain’t hit me how much I’ve needed him to give me that reassurance.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Silence follows, interrupted by the sudden swell of laughter from the nearby party. He starts swaying again and I follow, our arms around one another.

“You wanna head somewhere more private?” he asks, resting his chin in my hair.

I lean back, press my hips against his, and quirk him a smirk.

“Private, huh? Private as in what exactly, sugar?”

He cocks a lazy smile.

“Well, you got the best room in the house, cherie. Mind if I take a li’l peek?”

I roll my eyes. When we’d first got here, in this incredible house Destiny had secretly bequeathed to me, right in the Garden Quarter of the Big Easy – Remy had been in terrible shape. He’d gotten his own room, and his own carer, in the person of our old friend, Beast – and, under doctor’s orders, I’d been careful not to ‘excite’ him. His brooding had made sure _that_ wasn’t a problem. The past few days he’s been up and about, almost like normal – as normal as he can be, after nearly losing his life – and while there have been touches and kisses, he’s still been holding something back. Which is why I’m kind surprised he’s choosing now to be flirty.

“Remy LeBeau,” I scold him sarcastically, “you passed out on my bed last night – don’t pretend you ain’t seen inside my room!”

“That was on top of your covers,” he drawls, “I was thinkin’ more inside o’them.”

I slap his cheek playfully.

“Are ya even sure ya even got the strength to go messin’ around, Cajun? I thought doctor’s orders were not to get over excited!”

“Doc just gave me a clean bill o’ health,” he grins too smugly for my liking. “As good as I ever was, Hank says. Superb shape. So I think that’s permission for some ‘excitement’, neh?”

Well, knock me down a feather! Seems like the boy might be recovered after all!

And I can’t say I ain’t been anxious to try things out between us without anything but skin in the way… …

“All right, sugar,” I say, half turning and drawing his arm firmly round my waist. “Lemme give ya that ‘sneak peek’ you’ve been waitin’ for.”

-oOo-

I lead him up through gorgeously furnished and decorated corridors to my room.

I’m on tenterhooks for this, like some kid in a candy shop.

I love him, and he loves me – he told me so, at the gates of heaven no less. Doesn’t matter if we’re still too dumbfuck, even at this point, to translate that into anything more than ‘taking things day by day’ and ‘seeing where it leads’.

Hey, you know what really sucks? I ain’t never had this boy fair and square. First time was in some godforsaken cave in the middle of Antarctica, fearing that either one or both of us would die the next day. And the second time was when his powers were at maximum control thanks to Sinny, and the static charges any contact created between us was, while fun while it lasted, hardly conducive to no-holds-barred fucking.

I want him on my _own_ terms.

I’m about to.

I can hardly contain myself, I’m so excited. Nervous too, but… …

We’re kissing as we enter the bedroom; he kicks the door shut behind us, and we’re already undressing each other as he backs me up towards the dresser with this dominating masculinity that in normal circumstances would have me pushing back just by instinct, but right now is the sexiest damn thing he could be doing.

As soon as my ass hits the dresser he hoists me up onto it, wedging up in the space between my legs as his mouth leaves mine and blazes an angry trail down my neck. I’m on horrible, all-consuming fire, a familiar hot wetness blooming up inside me. I fumble between us for his flies, and my fingers are shaking with impatience as I finally unzip him free… and suddenly, he’s in my hand.

He moans.

Lord, but you do not know what the sound of that does to me.

Then he cusses through his teeth, backs away slightly, hooks my legs at the knees and lifts them. My feet slam noisily onto the dresser. I’m wide open to him, and he grabs at the waistline of my pants and underwear, yanking them roughly down past my ass and thighs, and I wriggle to accommodate him, eager to shake off my clothing.

He’s impatient, animal almost, intimidating in a way that thrills me. I feel… weird, but not in an unpleasant way. This ain’t the first time we’ve done this, and it’s a long time since I’ve been a virgin, thanks to him. We’ve messed around as much as we’ve been able with my toxic skin, which has been… an education. But the power differential has always been lurking there between us. He knows I could kick his skinny Cajun ass into the middle of next week if I wanted to, and I’ve always wondered what it felt like for a man like him to acknowledge that his woman could physically beat him into a pulp if he tried anything funny.

Hell, maybe it turns him on – maybe I should ask him.

Not that it matters anymore. Now I’m just like any woman, and the weirdness I feel is from the thread of vulnerability not having my powers anymore gives me. It isn’t like the first time. The first time he was patient, tender, loving. Now he’s… something else.

My pants are off.

He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and suddenly he’s slapping a condom into my hand.

Gotta love this Cajun – he always comes prepared.

This is something we’ve practiced scores of times before, and between him shucking off his pants and my quivering desire, I somehow get it on him. Ha – don’t have to worry about skin on skin contact this time round – he always swore the long drawn-out, uber-careful methods I’d had to take before were hot as fuck, but _slow_ is not what we’re aiming for right now, not by any stretch of the imagination. We’re both as rabid as a couple of rabbits on heat, and as soon as he’s suited up, he grabs my ass, scoots me forward to the edge of the dresser and—

He’s surging up inside me so hard and fast I’m crying out into his shoulder.

_Damn_.

My body is suddenly reminding me that I don’t have invulnerability anymore.

He freezes right up there inside me, says shakily, breathlessly into my hair: “S-sorry.”

I breathe in deep, sucking up the scent, the taste of his skin. The stars behind my eyes start to fade a bit.

“I-I’m okay,” I whisper back hoarsely – my mouth is dry.

He backs up a bit, kisses my forehead softly, looks into my eyes.

“Don’t wanna hurt ya…” he says, and I grab his face, saying:

“I’m fine. Don’t stop.”

I pull his face down into another kiss.

And neither of us stops, for a little while at least.

-oOo-

We’re lying side by side, listening to the sounds of the party outside.

My body is still a tingling fuzz of pleasure, swimming lazily in and out of the haze of exhaustion.

“They’re probably wondering where we are,” I murmur aloud. Beside me, Remy chuckles softly.

“No, chere. They ain’t.”

I huff a lose strand of hair out of my face. No, they probably ain’t.

“Speakin’ of the others,” I say after a moment. “What did ya think of Jean’s pitch about headin’ back to the mansion?”

“Sounded good,” he answers drily, “but that pitch wasn’t aimed at me. It was aimed at you folks. And y’all know I ain’t part of your ‘X-Treme X-Men’ outfit.” He pauses, adds under his breath, “which is the dumbest team name of all time, by the way.”

“Oh, quit bein’ a baby,” I nudge in the ribs with an elbow – I ain’t strong enough to even elicit an _oof_ from him these days. “Ya know you’re one of us! And you know as well as I do that Jean was includin’ you in her invitation!”

“I dunno,” he shrugs, staring at the ceiling. “I was havin’ fun wonderin’ round thievin’. Just like the ol’ days. Shame that Vargas fella had to come along and ruin it all.”

He sighs, and I can read the unspoken easily – he’s missing his powers. I sure as hell ain’t.

“Remy,” I roll onto my side and lean my head into my hand, “if you wanna talk about what happened with Vargas, I—”

His eyes flash to mine and he silences me.

“Hey, listen. Let’s not get back on this track again, Rogue. What’s done is done. I don’t regret it now. Honestly.”

I’m still not sure I believe him.

“You would’ve died,” I say quietly, averting my eyes and tracing the line of the already-fading scar marring his breast. “I couldn’t let you. Y’see, I realised somethin’,” and I raise my gaze to his again, ready to be honest. “I can’t live without you. So many times we’ve been apart, and you know what? Knowing you’re still out there keeps me going. I didn’t even realise it until I nearly lost you.”

A slight smile curves his lips – he raises and hand and tucks a lock of white hair tenderly behind my ear.

“Same,” he murmurs. He looks thoughtful for a moment, and the smile drops as he says: “What do _you_ want, chere? Do _you_ wanna head back to the mansion? Join back up with the X-Men?”

I think about it. And all I can really say is that I want what I wanted before. _Everything_.

“I want our lifetime,” I reply simply. “Even if it means havin’ t’ take things day by day.”

This time his smile is kinda sad. I know he’s not the type to promise everything – he never has been. I don’t expect it from him. I guess I never really have.

“Okay, well,” he finally says, “I got a better idea.”

“Better than what?”

“Better than goin’ back t’the mansion.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Really? Okay, let’s hear it.”

“Well,” he begins, massaging his fingers through my hair luxuriantly, “how ‘bout you and I take t’the road… see where it leads us? Just you, me and whatever we have with us right now.”

I stare at him.

I can’t get words out. I can’t tell whether he’s being serious or not.

“What?” I finally blurt out.

“You want more,” he replies, his eyes tracing my mouth, that oh-so-familiar cocky smile forming on his lips again. “I guess I do too.”

“Oh,” I snit back at him pointedly. “Ya ‘guess’ ya do?”

He stops massaging my hair, locks his eyes onto mine again, all trace of that smile gone.

“Yeah,” he says. “I do. And we ain’t gonna go nowhere together bein’ back at that mansion. No offence to the Brady Bunch an’ all – I love ‘em to pieces, sure I do – but all they ever do is stick their noses in and stir shit. B’sides,” he addes nonchalantly, “we ain’t got no superhero powers no more. What good we gonna do the X-Men?”

I pout, knowing they’d take us back anyway – but that’s not the point.

“Listen, chere,” he continues, this time in a more pressing tone, “I wanna figure out what we got goin’ together. And we ain’t never gonna be able t’do that with the X-Men always in our lives. Now we have the chance t’be a normal couple – whatever ‘normal’ means. Hell, I don’t know what the hell it means, but I’m willin’ to find out. We hit the road, we get to find out what bein’ together means on our own terms – no pryin’ eyes. No distractions but each other. Whaddya say, Rogue?”

I think about it. For a second I wonder whether he’s charming me, before I realise – he doesn’t have that power anymore. This is all just me.

I can’t believe he’s offering this to me – I can’t believe I could say anything but yes.

“Anna,” I say.

“Huh?” He blinks.

“My name is Anna. And yeah. I say we hit the road.”

He smiles, slow and sexy.

“Y’know somethin’?” he asks, his fingers kneading my scalp again, sending shivers down my spine.

“What?”

“Your hair. I miss also those sexy, wild curls o’ yours. You gonna grow it out again any time soon?”

I scoff.

“I’ll _consider_ it, Cajun.”

He laughs softly, teasing me back towards him.

“All right, Anna.” He pauses a moment, adds, “I’m gonna haveta get used t’that.”

“Ya don’t have to, sugar,” I assure him, leaning in closer. “I prefer Rogue.”

“Me too,” he murmurs; and we seal our deal with a kiss.

-END-


End file.
